INDONESIANS LINE CALLS FRUSTRATE NINO ALCANTARA IN DAVIS CUP TIE
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 14 Sep 2012
The Indonesians well known propensity to favor the home team in tennis once again reared its ugly head in the opening singles match of the Asia-Oceania Zone Group II Davis Cup tie against the Philippines.
Talented Francis Casey "Nino" Alcantara, a victim of dubious line calls dropped his opening singles match to Indonesia's highly ranked No. 1 Christopher Rungcat 7-6, 6-2,3-6,6-0 at the Bung Karno Tennis Stadium in Jakarta, Friday.
Philippine Davis Cup administrator Randy Villanueva told the Manila Standard that while Rungcat is a very good player which explains his high ITF ranking, Alcantara "had so many chances specially in the crucial first set but out here in Indonesia you can't hit a line ball if you are the visitor, all line balls here that you hit are literally called out. In the crucial tie break in the first set, there was 2 crucial calls right at the start and this helped Rungcat win that set."
Philippine team captain Rolando Kraut said "We already expected those kind of calls before coming here since the Indonesians are well known for that since the 80's and even in the last Southeast Asian Games in Palembang but it is still very frustrating."
Team manager, businessman-sportsman John Henru Lhuillier remarked that Alcantara "played well considering this is his very first bearing Davis Cup game . He made Rungcat work hard for every point for 2 and a half hours and that is crucial since the Indonesians are relying on Rungcat to play 3 crucial games in this tie."
Villanueva said Lhuillier our team manager arrived in Jakarta on Thursday to support the team. Mr. Lhuillier brought along former Davis Cup player and Alcantara's longtime coach Jun Toledo.
Together with the team here is coach Chris Cuarto who is helping captain Roland kraut outside the court and also trainer Marlon Dagatan of the Philippine Center for Sports Medicine.
Villanueva said Dagatan's role "is very important since as he helps the players recover after training and specially after a game."
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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